Fruit bat. Image courtesy of Gustav Mützel, Brehms Tierleben (1927).
Joel Kontinen
Many people assume that an animal with sharp teeth kills and eats other animals.
Skeptics often use this argument against the very good world of Genesis where there were no predators.
There is a major problem in this view– it is not always true. Even today there are sharp-toothed animals that eat plants. Pandas prey on bamboo and fruit bats drink nectar and eat tropical fruit.
Recently, National Geographic had an article on a dog-sized, sabre-toothed animal discovered in Brazil. Named Tiarajudens eccentricus, the fossil is assumed to be 260 million years old. Its discoverer, palaeontologist Juan Carlos Cisneros, and other experts assume that it was a herbivore or a plant-eater.
What do we learn from this find? We should at least remember that sharp teeth or even tusks are not a good argument against the very good world of Genesis.
Source:
Handwerk, Brian. 2011. Odd Saber-Toothed Beast Discovered—Preyed on ... Plants? National Geographic News 24 March.
Posts
